Sunday, 27 December 2015

Hope you are still enjoying some relaxing and fun Christmas festivities.

Needed a last minute card for a friend who is coming to visit. This was an quick and easy one and you could change the sentiment and it could easily be for another occasion.

I have a circle stencil that I cut from a heavy piece of acetate that I used to randomly stencil the circles on my card front using Mowed Lawn and Barn Door Distress inks. I splattered just the red circles with white acrylic paint for interest.

Thursday, 24 December 2015

Posting a few last cards that I made. This one has a shadow-looking background.

I began by masking my white cardstock then inked the Hero Arts stamp with Grey Memento ink, stamped off and then onto my cardstock. It gave me a faint, pretty background that I could stamp over top of. Next, I got out my Misti and stamped the sentiment. Using my Misti again, I coloured the snowflake with Memento markers, stamped then coloured with the dark blue onto the stamp, sprayed with water to blend the colours and stamped again over the light blue.

The finishing touch was a shiny blue jewel added to the center of the snowflake.

Wednesday, 23 December 2015

Meet today's card. I picked up a few new stamps and wanted to play with them.

I began by masking my white cardstock and grabbed my MISTI. I inked the red berries first by coloring on them using Memento markers, sprayed with water and stamped. I then inked the evergreens the same way and stamped them randomly around the edges to blend in with the berries. I also added some white details to the berries using a white gel pen.

When that was dry, I stamped the sentiment from MFT and sponged the edges with Peeled Paint Distress ink. Lastly, to add more depth and interest, I inked the script stamp from Penny Black with Grey Memento ink, stamped off onto a piece of scrap paper and then onto my card front.

Saturday, 19 December 2015

Meet today's card. The pattern reminds me of a sweater. The stamp is from Simon Says and I just love seeing it done in red and white....so classic looking.

Today, I am being inspired by the challenge at Splitcoast and a Pinterest board of vintage buttons.

Here are the buttons that inspired me:

I began by stamping the middle panel with Versamark and heat embossed it with white. I masked that area off and rubbed on Fired Brick Distress ink. I removed the masked and stamped the panel 2 more times using the same Fired Brick DI. I then scored the top and bottom to define and add interest to the stamped area then stamped the sentiment from Paper Smooches across the top.

I die-cut the snowflake from Spellbinders and added it to my card front with a red pearl.

Friday, 18 December 2015

To create my card, I began by grabbing my MISTI and inked up the Full Bloom stamp using Memento markers to colour the image. Next, I added some images from the Nature's Gifts set by inking again with Memento markers and spraying with water to blend the colours.

When that was all dry, I went back with a bit of Salty Ocean Distress ink and watercoloured the background. I added some splatters as well for interest and finally stamped the sentiment.

Tuesday, 15 December 2015

I called this card White Christmas but I'm starting to wonder if we will have one.

It is unusually warm and rainy here in Canada.

I have been inspired by the many wonderful tags I have seen for Christmas and wanted to make a card with a tag on it so this is what I came up with.

I pulled out this stamp from Serendipity, painted it with my Brushos and stamped it onto a tag I cut using a die from Reverse Confetti. Next, I embossed the bkg using a plate from Spellbinders then stamped the sentiment from Hero Arts. To add a bit of sparkle, I edged the card in gold and added a gold twine to finish it all off.

Monday, 14 December 2015

Meet today's card. I am playing along with the CAS Challenge at Splitcoast this morning called Trim the Tree. Easy right, especially with this stamp-die combo from Memory Box.

I began by stamping the trees with black Memento ink then die-cut them out using the matching die.

The background was sponged with Salty Ocean Distress inks then splattered with water and white acrylic paint. I mounted it all under a frame I cut using the stitched frame from MFT just leaving the tree tip sticking above the frame and added the star.

Sunday, 13 December 2015

Today, I am again playing with inking my stamps with Brushos. I just love the look they give to my stamping. Kind of a hand painted result when using them.

Grabbed my MISTI to stamp the border and my Tall Timbers stamp from Penny Black. I randomly painted some Brushos onto the stamp and pressed onto my paper. Changed the direction of my stamp, brushed on more Brushos and stamped again to create the edge border.

Next, I painted this vintage feeling Santa that I love from Stampington with more Brushos and stamped.

I cut him out using the stitched border from MFT and cut a larger one to mount it onto. I pop dotted it over the background and done.

Saturday, 12 December 2015

Today's card is all about finding peace and joy in nature. Something we are reminded about especially at Christmas time. I think the snow adds to the purity of the woods as well.

So here's what I did to create my card inspired by the challenge at Splitcoast this morning.

I began by pulling out my MISTI and the Snowy Grove stamp from Penny Black. I painted the stamp with my Brushos again and I did that by sprinkling a bit of the pigment powder on my palette, added a touch of water and painted directly onto my stamp and pressed onto my paper. I then randomly painted the stamp again with another colour of Brushos to give different colours to the background trees. By using my MISTI, it is possible to layer the colours and add more colour where needed. I wash my stamp right after I am finished using it with warm water.

After that was dry, I stamped the small Christmas sentiment at the bottom and die-cut the deer from Memory Box. I sponged some Vintage Linen on the deer's back for more interest.

Friday, 11 December 2015

Today, I am playing along with the challenge at Splitcoast called Pick a Movie.

Since I am totally in Christmas mode, I chose my favourite movie for the holidays called It's A Wonderful Life. For anyone that has never seen the movie, it's about a man named George who feels that his life is worthless and through the help of an angel, he finds the true meaning of Christmas is family, friends and home. That's what I tried to depict in my card.

I began by stamping the main image and wanted to give it a hand-painted feel so I used my Brushos to paint it instead of using ink on my stamp. I just sprinkle a bit on my paint palette then add a bit of water and apply with a paint brush. The image is part of a larger stamp but I cut it down using the stitched frame die from MFT and pop dot mounted it over an embossed frame on the card front.

The sentiment is from Hero arts and is stamped using Memento black ink.

Tuesday, 8 December 2015

So sorry to be inundating you with Christmas cards but once I get started, I find it hard to stop! I have made more this year then ever before. Guess the holiday spirit gets my creative juices flowing.

So here is today's card.

I began by grabbing my MISTI and inked up this wonderful snowflake by painting on Brushos. Love the blue on blue look it created. I punched that out and set it aside.

Next, I inked the stamp with Memento Grey ink and stamped the snowflake to either side. I scored the lines using my ScorPal and my ScorBug and stamped the sentiment.

Monday, 7 December 2015

I am playing along with the challenge at Splitcoast this morning; Christmas Greens.

Can you smell the pine and cedar?

I began my card by cutting an oval using my Spellbinder die from scrap paper and used that to mask the center of my card. Then, using my MISTI, I stamped around the mask using the cedar stamp from the Darkroom Door. I love the detail that stamp gives. I inked it using Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn Distress inks, spraying with water in between stamping to help blend the colours. I then sponged some blue ink over that and using the end of a paint brush, added the berries to the tree branches.

I then removed the mask and stamped the sentiment. It looked too stark for me like that, so I used the negative from the oval of the die-cut to mask the cedars and stamped the script from Penny Black and sponged with a bit of Grey ink.

Lastly, I splattered the whole piece with white acrylic paint to resemble the look of snow.

Sunday, 6 December 2015

When I see all the gorgeous poinsettias decorating stores and homes I think of them as Christmas glories. They always feel like the perfect finishing touch for the holiday decor.

I just love this stamps from STAMPlorations and I love using the loose watercoloring technique so I put the two together and this is what I came up with.

I began by stamping the poinsettia on a piece of scrap paper so I could cut out a mask to use so I could get the look of a cluster of flowers. I inked the stamp with black Memento ink again and stamped it onto my cardstock.
I got out my Brushos next and sprinkled some onto my pallet, sprayed with water and used that to do a loose watercolour on my flowers. When it was all dry, I fussy cut the piece out so I could glue just the corner and pop the edges up to add more dimension.
Lastly, I stamped the sentiment from PTI, scored a border to pull it all together and added the small pearls to the flower centers.

The background panel was done by inking up the Tall Timbers and stamping in both
directions to create a plaid bkg. using Peacock Feathers Distress ink. I love that I can use the trees to create a whole new use for them. The edges were inked with Versamark
and white heat embossed to give the feel of snow.
The small main panel was
done by inking the Brush Pines with Memento markers, sprayed with water
and stamped. I then watercoloured around the image using more Distress inks and mounted that over the plaid looking background using pop dots.

Card #2

Seasons Greetings
I coloured the Full Bloom
image with Memento markers, sprayed with water and stamped the main
panel. I then inked the stamp again the same way and stamped on another piece of
cardstock, then fussy cut a portion out so it could be pop dotted
over the main background to add interest. I sponged the edges with
Distress inks then splattered all with diluted Distress ink.

Card #3

Arctic Antics
I masked a circle on my card front
then did a watercolour wash in blue. I also applied some Marvvy Snow
Marker to the bottom and used my heat gun to activate, giving it a snowy
look and texture. I inked up the polar bears from the Arctic Antics and stamped them onto
another piece of cardstock, coloured using Copic markers then cut them
out and glued them just over top of the snowy area. I inked just the
stars of that stamp and then coloured them with Copics. Last, I stamped the sentiment from the set with Memento black ink and mounted the whole thing on a red liner.

Thursday, 3 December 2015

I hope your holiday preparations are going well. I totally have Christmas on the brain and I find that once I get into making Christmas cards, I just can't stop!!

Since it is such a busy time of the year, I wanted to show you a quick and easy card I made for a friend.

This year, I am obsessed with snowflakes, weird as I'm not a big fan of winter...LOL.

I inked up these snowflakes from a set by Recollections with Adirondack Blue Jeans ink and stamped them in a group of three using different sizes for interest.

I stamped this great sentiment from Serendipity over the top then splattered with more of the ink that I diluted with water. For the finishing touch, I glued on 3 little pearls.
A quick and easy CAS card.

Monday, 30 November 2015

A very fun one to create and I think it would make a great card for a guy.

I got out my Penny Black stamp called A Splash of Winter. I inked it using some watered down Brushos with a paint brush and stamped it 3 times across my card front, each time re-applying more Brushos directly to the stamp.

I stamped the sentiment from the Christmas Cheer set with black Memento ink then splattered some more of the Brushos on for interest.

To finish my card off, I punched out a star and added silver using a Krylon silver pen and edged the outside using the silver as well.

Sunday, 29 November 2015

As many of you that visit my blog know, I save my 'DUDS'. You know, the pieces that haven't worked on a card or just aren't the results you expected.

The blue piece was supposed to be a card front, but I wasn't happy with the
way the Brushos dispersed when I sprayed on the water, so I tucked it away.

So, today's the day I will use my leftovers and here's what I did.

I inked the inside of a Darice embossing folder called Henna (the raised side) with Versamark ink, ran it through my Cuttlebug and then sprinkled on clear embossing powder and heat set.

Next, I sprinkled on Brushos and sprayed with water. The clear embossing powder acts like a resist allowing the pattern to show from under the Brusho powder.

Next, I took the negative part of the snowflake (Simon Says) leftover from cutting snowflakes to use on another card that was also sitting on my desk. I stamped this wonderful sentiment from The Stampin Place and die-cut the stitched edge using a die from MFT. Love that sentiment.

Last, I place that over the Brusho inked and embossed piece and was very pleased with the results.

Saturday, 28 November 2015

The theme this week is to create a square card or any size card with square elements.

I decided to use the square elements on my card by first embossing a square on my card front using a Spellbinder die. Next, I stamped one of my favourite scene stamps from Serendipity Stamps with black Memento ink cut it into a square and coloured it using Copic markers. I sponged the edges with Salty Ocean Distress inks and roughed up the bottom a bit to look like snow.

I just LOVE this sentiment from The Stampin Place. They have such a great selection of custom designs to choose from.

Thursday, 26 November 2015

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends in the U.S. today. I hope you enjoy a day with many blessings.

I am playing along with the challenge at Splitcoast this am; to use leftovers on our card.

Easy, right? I keep all my leftovers and rejects for (hopefully) future uses. Today was a good day to use a piece of paper I printed using my Gelli Plate.

I think most of you are probably familiar with the Gelli Plate. For those of you that are not, it is a gel- like piece that you apply ink or paint mediums onto, press objects into paint and print paper from that. This piece reminded me of the frost patterns I see on my windows on a cold winter morning.

(I used the plastic Copic markers dividers you get when you buy a large pack of them to press into the paint. It gave me the grid pattern you see above)

Here is a link to the official Gelli Plate site if you would like to see more:

Tuesday, 24 November 2015

I began by creating the woodgrain background piece. I spread some Elmer's School Glue onto a piece of cardstock randomly in lines and let it dry. When dry, I applied Distress inks, spraying with a bit of water to blend then, using my ScorPal, I scored the lines to mimic the look of wood. I applied more Distress ink over the scored lines to accentuate the look of the grain.

The deer are die cut using the Memory box die. I stamped the sentiment from a Stampin Up set and scored a line on either side to continue the theme of the scored lines.